Most car radios have an electronic tuner with multiple radio station presets. Typically, a user stores a radio station under a desired preset by tuning to a desired station and then pressing and holding the desired preset button for a short period of time until some form of confirmation (e.g., an audible “beep”) indicates that the radio has stored the station under that preset. In most radios, each preset can store, at most, only one station per band—i.e., one AM station and one FM station.
When traveling from one geographical area to another (e.g., during a business trip, vacation, intercity commercial delivery, etc.), a driver loses the convenience of his preset stations. The driver goes out of range of a preset station, and stations begin to fade, necessitating manual tuning. When the driver reaches his destination away from home, he has the option of re-programming the radio presets, but this has the disadvantage of erasing his previously stored stations (i.e., those corresponding to his hometown) such that, when the driver returns home from his trip, he must go through the entire process of programming the presets again. This is very inconvenient, especially for drivers, such as commercial truck drivers, who frequently travel out of the area in which their favorite stations are receivable.